1. Technical Field
Embodiments described herein relate to a curtain airbag having a curtain bag section for deploying from a section at the side edge of a vehicle roof and inflating along the side wall of the vehicle compartment, and in particular to a curtain airbag for preventing an interior member interfering with deployment and inflation.
2. Related Art
An airbag device such as one provided to a car retains and protects an occupant by a bag section deploying and inflating by being injected with deployment gas, when there is a collision. As an example of such a type of airbag device, a curtain airbag is known having a curtain bag section that deploys downwards in a curtain shape along a side window from a section at the side edge of the roof of a vehicle.
In related technology pertaining to such a curtain airbag, for example, JP-A-2006-137413 describes increasing the bag stroke of a curtain bag section used for impact absorption without excessively increasing the volume within the bag. In this curtain airbag, a tension panel, functioning as a tether, is provided spanning along the top-bottom direction at the vehicle width direction outside of the curtain bag section. The tension panel retains the bag body in a bent or curved shape so as to form a projection facing towards the vehicle compartment inside, such that the curtain bag section adopts a D-shape in cross-section when viewed along the front-rear direction.
With such a curtain airbag, there is a need to prevent correct deployment and inflation from being impeded, for example by the curtain bag section catching on an interior member, such as trim provided to a section of pillar, an above door grab handle or a seat belt (shoulder belt) anchor, partway through deployment.
A proposal has been made to form a springboard shaped guide member from metal, for example, at the top edge of a problematic interior member, to bounce the airbag towards the vehicle compartment inside during deployment. However, such a proposal results in a significant increase in number of components, weight and cost of a vehicle. Since such a guide member is also manufactured separately to the curtain bag section, there is a need for attachment to be made, complicating the vehicle manufacturing processes.